Two detained over Hindu temple attack

Vajpayee appealed for unity after the temple attack

Police in the Indian state of Gujarat have detained two suspects over the attack on a Hindu temple on Tuesday.

The two men are believed to be the driver and the owner of a taxi which police say was used by the attackers.

Thirty-one people, including four children, were killed in the attack. The two gunmen who carried it out were also killed.

	Temple facts: Owned by one of India's richest Hindu sects Built 10 years ago by nearly 1,000 craftsmen Made of 6,000 intricately carved blocks of pink sandstone Visited by two million people every year 'Temple of peace'

Gujarat was hit last February by India's worst Hindu-Muslim bloodshed for a decade, when more than 1,000 people died in riots sparked by an attack on a train carrying Hindus.

On Thursday, a nationwide strike in protest at the attack passed off peacefully.

The streets of Ahmedabad, Gujarat's commercial capital, were largely deserted as army reinforcements were deployed in a bid to pre-empt new religious violence.

Hundreds of Muslims in Gujarat have been taking temporary refuge in camps or in Muslim-majority areas since officials announced that the temple attackers were Islamic radicals.

Foreigners

On Thursday, India's junior home minister, ID Swamy, said the two gunmen who carried out the attack were foreigners.

He also said they could be activists from the Islamic militant groups Lashkar-e-Toiba or Jaish-e-Mohammed, which have been accused of using fake names recently.

Following the attack, security has been tightened around religious sites across India.

Accusations

Two alleged members of a radical Islamic group attacked the Swaminarayan Temple in Gandhinagar on Tuesday, killing men, women and children before eventually being shot dead by Indian commandos.

Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee has promised a full investigation into those responsible for the attack, but one of his deputies, Lal Krishna Advani, has already indirectly blamed Pakistan.

"Even last week, our enemy spoke of Gujarat in the United Nations, so it seems that the plan was on for quite some time," he said, referring to a speech by Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf at the UN on 12 September.

Pakistani Information Minister Nisar Memon described the idea that his country had been involved as "preposterous".